Coast Guard cutter helps five fishermen

BOSTON – The Coast Guard assisted a Boston-based fishing crew today after their boat became disabled 30 miles east of Chatham, Mass.

The crew of five aboard the Miss Lindsey II radioed Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England in Woods Hole, Mass., at 3:15 a.m., and reported they were adrift and suspected a head gasket had blown in the 80-foot trawler’s engine.

The sector issued a radio broadcast asking any nearby vessels to assist. After getting no response, they directed the 270-foot Coast Guard Cutter Spencer, based in Boston, to make way toward the Miss Lindsey II and tow it to Provincetown, Mass.

The wind speed on scene was about 30 knots and the seas were 15 to 18 feet. The water temperature was about 40 degrees.

The Spencer arrived, 9:30 a.m., and had the Miss Linsey II safely in tow at about 11 a.m. They are expected to arrive in Provincetown late tonight or early Monday where a commercial salvage company will take over the tow.

“The weather this morning was a big concern,” said Scott Backholm, the search and rescue controller at Sector Southeastern New England.

“The fishing crew wasn’t in any immediate danger, but without engine power in frigid water, strong winds and heavy seas, they could have been,” he said.